Counties Fight To Keep Local Prosecutors

Several counties are fighting to keep their court prosecutors after a bill was proposed to eliminate county prosecuting attorneys and condense that job into a prosecuting attorney responsible for the entire state. With the announcement of the bill, several concerned prosecuting attorneys have created an organization called Missouri Prosecuting Attorneys for local Accountability and Control to fight in Jefferson City against the bill. The bill proposes moving the court system to no longer need a county prosecutor as it would become a state attorney system. So with the 45 court circuits statewide covering over 114 counties, the new rule would appoint one prosecutor to cover all of them instead of one per 3 to five county area.